Sensory defensive and sensory seeking

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I am very hypersensitive to touch and certain textures to the point that I sometimes wish there was a way so my skin doesn't have to touch anything, even the air.

But a really weird thing is that I am also sensory seeking in my hands, especially the middle of my palms, as well as on the bottom of my feet. I often dig my fingernails into my palms and I love stepping on the edges of things with the middle of my feet.

I don't really understand how it is possible to be both sensory defensive and sensory seeking. Is anyone else like this too?

I'm like that.

I'm much better now--but, in the old days, I didn't like to put my head under a shower. I just couldn't do it until recently. Even now, I have to force it.

As a child, I couldn't bear it when my mother used to brush my hair.

These days, I don't like having tags on my shirts or pants chafe my skin. I also have a hard time getting comfortable in shoes.

As a "sense-seeker," I tend to rub myself--sometimes even gently slap myself. I like to rub my hands against ridged walls (as opposed to flat walls). I like to sweep across a fence with my keys; I like the feeling of pressure.

I like hearing very low and very high frequency sounds.

I apologise for posting this in general and not the adult section, maybe skip this if you're young? I'll word it as nicely as I can.

I really like hugs and I like stimming by rubbing my fingertips on things or tapping them on things... especially textured materials or so two of my fingerprints are rubbing together. I also used to love the complex tastes in different kinds of marijuana and wine as well as the different effects.

I can't stand french kissing, too much sensory overload for me, and I freak out if someone touches my testicles even after years in a relationship with them... even more sensory overload than my tongue. Fortunately people touching these parts of me is not something I will often have to deal with!

I am like that too. Some sensory input repulses me while other sensory input I crave.

Yep, I pull off having hyposensitive, hypersensitive, sensory defensive, and sensory seeking, all in the same sense in some of my senses! (Like, simultaniously even, its interesting...)

I'm like this with smells. There are lots and lots of smells that I find unpleasant and impossible to ignore, but at the same time I love anything that smells nice to me (hand creams, perfumes I like - whereas perfumes I don't like are a nightmare -, some flower smells - whereas others are overwhelmingly unpleasant -, etc.) and will constantly sniff at those things if they're around.

I don't like high-frequency sounds AT ALL.

Some of my memories involved scents intertwined with the visual.

Me too - I seem to always be trying to find that happy medium between being sensory overwhelmed and underwhelmed. I'm still trying to figure it out.

Question. Is there a difference between being hypersensitive and being sensory defensive? Or is sensory defensiveness a product of being hypersensitive?

Same. Also discrimination problems, and the combination can change with the temperature.

I do think it's possible to crave certain sensations and want to avoid others. For instance, I gag on mushy foods like tomato chunks and applesauce, yet I crave crunchy foods like chips, crispy pepperoni and bacon, and foods that are "chewy" and sweet, like cake, ice cream, or chewing gum. I hate repetitive noises like the beeping of the microwave timer, the smoke alarm, and phones ringing, yet I love turning my favorite music up as loud as it will go (usually as a last-ditch effort to drown out non-preferred sounds). I hate scratchy tags in shirts and certain fabric textures and seams, yet I love wearing my favorite hoodie and being wrapped in my Cars blanket.

Hypersensitive means you feel it "too much"; this however might not be a bad thing. For example I overtaste spice, but LOVE spice anyways. So I both am both hypersensitive to spice and seek it.

On the other hand, you can be sensory avoidant to things you aren't hypersensitive to. For example, its possible to not actually be hypersensitive to the vestibular stuff going on in spinning but hate it and avoid all spinning even at a level that causes you problems.

So there is:
-hypersensitive
-normal level of sensing
-hyposensitive

-seeking
-normal level of trying to get
-avoiding

both of these scales exist.

If you are hypersensitive to something you are more likely to avoid it, because its more likely to be too much and into the level where you can't handle it. But hypersensitive doesn't mean avoiding, and hyposensitive doesn't mean seeking.

I am like this too. And it seems perfectly normal for me.
Usually there is a lot of sensory input surrounding me and I can get easily overloaded since they are all so similar I can't focus on any specific sensation so I feel lost. But once I get one strong sensory input I calm down. A single strong, controllable sensation can suppress lots of weak, disturbing inputs. That's the reason why most ASD people stim.

I never thought about it that way. My brain somehow failed to make the connection that stimming and other things are actually sensory input. It's so obvious now that I think about it.




Thanks for explaining! It makes a lot of sense to me now. I guess I had always viewed being hypersensitive as a bad thing that caused me pain and overwhelmed me.

Thinking about it more, I wonder if I crave some of the touch sensations that I do because I am hypersensitive to them so I can feel little things about them that other people don't. For example, I love playing with tassels like the ones that you wear on your hat at your graduation or the ones at the edges of pillows. I wonder now if I like it so much while other people don't really seem to, because the little tickle sensation is stronger for me so it actually feels like something while for other people it doesn't really feel like much so they can't enjoy it.